Online content video views have exceeded 50 billion a month for the first time on record and video ad views have tripled in the past year, according to the latest data from the comScore Video Metrix service.
In December, 188.2 million Americans watched 52.4 billion online content videos, while the number of video ad views totaled 35.2 billion that month. By comparison, 182 million U.S. Internet users watched 38.7 billion online content videos in December 2012, while video ad views totaled 11.3 billion that month.
Top Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers
Google sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube, ranked as the top online video content property in December with 159.1 million unique viewers. Facebook ranked second with 79.1 million viewers, followed by AOL with 76.2 million, Yahoo sites with 53.5 million, and NDN with 49.4 million. Nearly 52.4 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google sites generating the highest number at 13.4 billion, followed by Facebook with 3.7 billion, and AOL with 1.4 billion.
By comparison, Google sites ranked as the top online video content property in December 2012 with 153 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 58.8 million, VEVO with 51.6 million, NDN with 49.9 million, and Yahoo sites with 47.5 million. Nearly 38.7 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google sites generating the highest number at 13.2 billion, followed by AOL with 692 million.
So, AOL is now among the top five video content properties by unique viewers, while VEVO has dropped out of the list in the past year.
In addition, Facebook’s December 2013 online video viewership, particularly the number of video views, is substantially higher than prior months due to both organic and inorganic factors. The largest (and inorganic) source of increase is the recent inclusion, following a technical validation effort, of a significant volume of short (typically 6-second) Vine videos that have been uploaded to Facebook. The other, and currently less significant, factor is the limited roll-out in December of auto-play videos in the Facebook News Feed.
Top Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed nearly 35.2 billion video ads in December 2013, with AOL maintaining the top position with 4.3 billion ad impressions. LiveRail.com came in second with 3.6 billion ads, followed by Google sites also with 3.6 billion, SpotXchange Video Ad Marketplace with 2.9 billion, and TubeMogul Video Ad Platform with 2.5 billion.
By comparison, Americans viewed 11.3 billion video ads in December 2012, with Google sites ranking first with nearly 2 billion ads. BrightRoll Video Network came in second with 1.8 billion, followed by Liverail.com with 1.8 billion, Adap.tv with 1.5 billion, and Hulu with 1.5 billion.
Time spent watching video ads totaled 13.2 billion minutes in December 2013, with AOL delivering the highest duration of video ads at nearly 1.9 billion minutes. Video ads reached 55.6 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 204 times during the month.
In December 2012, time spent watching video ads totaled 4.1 billion minutes, with BrightRoll Video Network delivering the highest duration of video ads at 966 million minutes. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 70 times during the month.
So, AOL’s acquisition of Adap.tv has vaulted it into first place as the top U.S. video ad property, as Search Engine Watch reported back in October. Meanwhile, SpotXchange and TubeMogul are now among the top five video ad properties by video ads viewed, while BrightRoll and Hulu have dropped out of the list in the past year.
Top YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The December 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 38.5 million viewers. Fullscreen held onto the second spot with 27.3 million unique viewers, followed by ZEFR (formerly MovieClips) with 26.6 million, Maker Studios with 24.7 million, and Warner Music with 22.7 million.
The December 2012 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 50.5 million viewers. Fullscreen climbed into the second position for the first time with 31.1 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios with 30 million, Warner Music with 26 million, and Machinima with 26 million.
So, ZEFR is now one of the top five YouTube partner channels by unique viewers, while Machinima has dropped off the list in the past year.
Other notable findings include:
- 86.9 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in December 2013, compared to 84.9 percent in December 2012.
- The duration of the average online content video was 4.2 minutes in December 2013, compared to 5.4 minutes in December 2012, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes in both the latest month and the same month a year ago.
- Video ads accounted for 40.2 percent of all videos viewed and 5.7 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online in December 2013, compared to 22.6 percent of all videos viewed and 1.9 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online in December 2012.
And according to the YouTube Ads Leaderboard for December 2013, the month’s top YouTube ad – Turkish Airlines’s “Kobe vs. Messi: The Selfie Shootout” – already has more than 135.5 million views, giving the sequel to their wildly popular “Legends on Board” video more views than any single ad from 2013.